WAUSAU - Marathon County Administrator Brad Karger will be suspended without pay for 30 days after he participated in a controversial demonstration that supported Dylan Yang, a teenager convicted of reckless homicide.

The County Board debated late into the night Tuesday whether to suspend Karger. Some officials wanted Karger fired from his post.

Instead they ruled that Karger must also make a plan to repair relationships with all the police departments in Marathon County and make a statement to the public.

"He works for the board and the board is rather dissatisfied with his participation in this march," said County Board member Jim Schaefer.

Hundreds of demonstrators came to Wausau for a peace march on May 31, which called for fairness in the justice system and anti-bullying efforts in the schools. Many attendees said Dylan Yang was not treated fairly in the court system because he's Hmong and that he should have been tried as a juvenile, rather than an adult.

"I marched in support of a child who committed a crime at age 15, who I believe should be punished, but his sentence should provide him the opportunity for rehabilitation," Karger said Tuesday night. He was not present when the County Board made its final decision.

Members of the Marathon County Board spent hours in closed session meetings with an outside attorney discussing an investigation into Karger and reviewing his performance.

The county's Executive Committee ordered an investigation by an outside attorney last month, but officials wouldn't specify which employee it pertained to and why. Karger confirmed he was the subject of the investigation after Wausau Police Chief Jeff Hardel and the Marathon County Sheriff Scott Parks raised concerns about his participation in that march.